Hero of the Day
by 12crazythomas
Summary: Human Cas gets sick and Dean has to take care of the poor former angel and Cas returns the favor happily. Some slight Destiel fluff


From the moment I woke up I knew something was off. Cas wasn't in his bed and the blanket was gone. The bathroom door was wide open, the light on, and something smelled like rotting eggs… like sulfur. But that's impossible, the demons and angels were locked up! Assuming the worst like we Winchesters do, I got up and out of bed with my knife gripped tightly in my hand. First I checked the bathroom, where the smell was gagging, but there was no sulfur. In a half-run I went into the kitchen where there was a pile of blanket in the chair, a fluff of blackish-brown hair poking out on the table. Knife abandoned on the ugly motel carpet, I dashed over to Cas.

"Cas!" I shouted with a bit more worry in my voice than I was comfortable using.

"Hmm?" Cas mumbled sleepily. He looked up at me. Automatically, I knew what was wrong and I looked at him with relief. There were bags under his eyes, his skin was white, and his was even more ruffled than normal. The poor formal angel was sick! "Dean, I don't want to alarm you, but I suspect that I dying," he said, his breath mirroring that smell of rotting eggs.

"Oh, really?" I asked with a slight smile.

"I think I threw up some of my lungs earlier…." Stifling a laugh, I tried helping him up. He noticed me touching him and shoved me away.

"No, Dean! I don't want to give this to you, you'll die too!"

"Calm down, Cas. You're not dying, you're just sick. Humans get sick all the time." I told him as I got him up and back into his bed. "And you didn't throw up your lungs, Cas." Cas looked up at me with wide, tired blue eyes.

"That makes sense." He mumbled. "But why does my head hurt so bad?" Cas asked. I rolled my eyes.

"Take a chill pill, it's just a cold."

"That would explain why I'm so cold." Cas said with a shiver. I couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

"I'm going to get you some medicine so you'll stop bitching. I'll be back in a bit." Quickly, I left for the store.

About an hour or so I came back and Cas was sleeping. I set my bag of sick remedies on his bedside table. He looked so peaceful sleeping despite being sick, those chapped lips breathing in air and eyelids fluttering. I so wanted to rub my hands through his thick, tussled hair, but as soon as that thought went through my head I shook it out vehemently. Such a stupid thought, thinking of him as anything more than an annoying but great friend.

"Wake up." I said as I lightly shook him. He jerked awake and looked up at me.

"What?" He demanded with a raspy cough. Cas still looked adorable with his agitated face in full swing.

"I got ya some stuff that'll make you feel better." I answered as I produced a bottle of painkillers and a small Gatorade. He did what I told him; he took two pills for the headache and slowly drank the Gatorade. The other stuff I wasn't sure to buy, so I did what I remembered Mom had done. "I'm not sure if this'll help, but I wanted one." I gave him a popsicle as I bit on down on a grape one. He quietly ate his awkwardly since he wasn't too sure how eat one. After that I put a box of tissues on the bedside table and went to get up. That was the moment when he hissed. I looked down at him frantically. Cas gripped his head and clenched his eyes shut.

"It's a brain freeze. Here, put your tongue on the roof of your mouth." I told him. He looked at me with complete trust I didn't quite share yet and put his tongue where I told him. It took thirty seconds, but I could tell when the pain finally subsided. "Better?"

"Better." He echoed. I smiled and stood up. Cas grasped my forearm. Again, I looked at the former angel.

"T-Thanks." He said to me. I just nodded and watched TV on the other bed.

"Dean, I can't sleep." Cas said to me hours late into the night, waking me up. "I'm too sick to sleep."

"What do you want me to do?" I retorted with a yawn, half awake.

"I don't know. You're my doctor." Cas said with a raspy, sad voice. He actually made me feel sorry for him again. I turned over and faced him. "I'm not trying to be gay, but get in bed with me." I said, lifting my blanket as I sat up. Without any consolation that this might be awkward Cas got into bed with me. Following what I remember mom used to I put a protective arm around Cas and pulled him close. It wasn't gay at all. It'll be fine if I just keep telling myself that.

"When I couldn't sleep when mom was alive, she would sing to me and it always worked." I prompted, trying to think of a song to sing to him. The first band that came to me was Metallica, and I thought of one of their ballads. You couldn't go wrong with Metallica. "Okay, here we go," I mumbled to myself, nervous about singing something I usually wasn't nervous about. Performing on demand made it difficult.

"_The window burns to light the way back home…_" I began, surprised that I didn't sound like fingernails on a chalkboard to Cas, "_A light that warms no matter where they've gone_." Cas actually smiled as I sang, his eyes half-lidded. "_They're off to find the hero of the day, But what if they should fall by someone's wicked way…?_" My voice lowered as Cas began drifting off into sleep.

"_Still the window burns, time so slowly turns, Someone there is sighing…._" Cas was now asleep and I began to hum the lyrics instead as I kissed his forehead without shame. The hair matted to his head felt coarse beneath my lips, and I felt an urge inside of me I couldn't explain. My lips once again touched his face, this time lowered to his temple. With a sleeping smile he pressed closer against my chest. His warmth warms my heart, which for the longest time had played off Cas's friendship.

…

_About a month later…_

When Dean abruptly awoke in the middle of the night, he wasn't happy. Why? Because he woke up to run into the bathroom and throw up his guts. The barrage of bile being forced from him worse than a demon leaving the body drained the life out of him. He was too weak to even go back to bed so he fell asleep at the toilet. That was how Castiel found him.

"Dean? Dean!" He heard a voice shouting at him hours later. Hands were gripping his body and shaking him.

"Okay, I'm up." Dean snapped, his voice sounding like he had been gargling rocks from the hurling and coughing. He opened his eyes to see Castiel looking down at him.

"What's wrong, Dean?" Cas demanded as he helped Dean up. Weak in the knees, Dean fell against Cas, who successfully held him up by wrapping an arm around him.

"I'm fine, just got a cold or something." Dean grumbled as he let out another gross cough.

"You're sick, you should lie down." Cas objected. Dean couldn't help but scoff and move out of Cas's grasp, annoyed that he was sick. Despite the nausea and killer headache, Dean thought he was fine. He thought that he could easily take a vampire or a ghost. Dean walked out of the bathroom while claiming he was perfectly fine. Then the hunter ran back into the bathroom to throw up some more. "Come on," Cas cooed as he helped Dean into his bed. Dean continued to protest until he sneezed and fell asleep.

Several more hours later Dean was forced awake again. He jolted into consciousness to see Cas staring down at him with a brown paper bag. "Is that what I think it is?" Dean asked, cracking an amused smile.

"Yeah, here." Cas answered absentmindedly as he handed Dean two pills and a Gatorade. "Have you heard from Sam?" Dean asked after taking a big swig.

"He said he'd be here either tomorrow morning or the day after that." He replied, sitting on the edge of Dean's bed with a box of tissues. Dean sat and patted Cas on the back.

"Thanks, Cas, you didn't have"- cough- "do any of this." He admitted.

"I did. You did it for me." Cas said with a shrug.

"Yeah, well, thanks anyway." Dean added as he turned away. "I'm going back to sleep."

Over the next few days Dean was forced to stay in bed while he was sick. While Sam had to put off his visit Cas was there to tend to him like Dean had first done. At first Cas got on Dean's nerves with him making him stay in bed and going without Dean to get stuff. It drove Dean crazy that he was forced to stay at the motel, he wasn't the type to complain about being sick. Hell, before he got healed by that faith healer all those years ago Dean was dying and he didn't let that keep him down. Sammy complained more about colds and such; that was just because he's a much more sensitive guy than Dean. And Cas, well, he'd never been sick in his long life and it took him by surprise.

After a while Dean came around to kind of enjoying Cas's sympathetic antics, helping him whenever he made the smallest cough and watching Dean until he fell asleep. It was comforting, a nice change from having to look after everyone himself. Even Sam himself couldn't give the comfort Dean was feeling even though he was as sick as a dog.

Eventually, Dean stopped puking. The insomnia sunk in quickly after that. At three in the morning Dean was sitting in the floor in front of the TV, watching an erectile dysfunction infomercial and drinking a beer. Cas was asleep on the edge of the bed, snoring loudly and about to fall off. Behind Dean, Cas finally fell with a clatter. Dean continued watching the infomercial while Cas jumped in shock of what happened. He uttered something hilariously incoherent as well.

"You alright, Cas?" Dean asked then took another swig of beer. He looked back at Cas, who looked a little crazy. His bed hair was crazy.

"I'm fine, I just fell out of bed." Cas sat down on the carpet next to Dean, looking at the TV screen with extreme interest. "What's erectile dysfunction?" Cas asked and Dean changed the channel.

"Okay, we're not watching that." Dean replied, instead turning the channel to a cartoon channel. "That's not much better."

"How are you feeling?" Cas asked after a minute or so of watching the cartoon.

"Oh, I'm fine, really. Just can't sleep." He replied, tossing the empty beer bottle towards the trash can.

"Have you tried singing?"

"Why would I try to sing myself to sleep?" Dean demanded.

"I could try." Cas offered. Dean began to say something sarcastic in response but changed his mind when he looked at Cas. That look he had, the look that always seemed to make Dean feel sorry for him and let him do whatever he wanted. The guy was a complete pushover for Castiel for a reason even he wasn't sure of.

"Yeah, okay, but I'm not going to lay my head on your shoulder." Dean said as he got up.

"Where are you going?"

"To the bed. Did you think you were going to lull me to sleep on the damn carpet?" Dean retorted with a laugh. There was a look of confusion on Cas's face and then he nodded as he got up too. _Please don't let this be awkward_, Dean prayed to himself as he got into bed, the blanket underneath him. As Cas sat beside of him Dean felt his whole body stiffen. This experience was making him feel like a girl, having closeness with another dude. It didn't feel right to Dean.

Cas scooted close to Dean, turning over to face him. "So, you gonna sing some Enochian Jesus hymn or somethin'?" Dean asked as he stared up at the ceiling.

"No my former garrison wasn't in charge of that." Cas replied.

"Wait, there's garrison up there is charge of singing Enochian Jesus hymns?" Dean asked, thoroughly intrigued.

"Dean, you're getting off subject."

"I know. I'll shut up." Dean grumbled. "Whoa, Cas, what the hell?" He exclaimed when Cas put his head on Dean's chest.

"Calm down. I'm not going to molest you. I just like the sound of your heart beating." Cas admitted.

"Castiel, sometimes I wonder about you," Dean replied as he automatically put a hand on Cas's head, his fingers pushing into Cas's fluffy hair. It was a good stress reliever to do that. dean felt himself automatically calm down, and he finally understood why Sam always said that he was too smitten with Castiel, but Sam could go fuck himself. Dean didn't care what anyone thought. He told himself that their closeness was just from their "profound bond," and he believed it.

Cas began his attempt at singing Dean to sleep, singing that same Metallica song Dean had sung. At first, Dean couldn't pinpoint what song it was. Cas made it sound so different… and _pretty_. When he finally indentified the song, it took him by complete surprise. Even James couldn't make it sound so good and Dean was sure he would be put to shame if he ever heard Cas singing _Hero of the Day_.

"I didn't know you could sing." Dean mumbled to Cas as he closed his eyes.

"Me either." Cas briefly said before he resumed. Just as Dean had done, Cas began humming the lyrics to the song. Soon, as if he were under a spell, Dean fell asleep. The last thing he remembered was Cas's rough lips on his forehead.

…

Saturday morning came and Sam and his girlfriend Amelia along with it. Suspecting the two were still sleeping, the two quietly went inside the motel room. What he saw was Dean snoozing on his bed with Cas's head on his chest, a slight snore coming from Dean's lush lips. his hand was in Cas's hair as well, the fingers clasping clumps of dark fluff. Sam laughed to himself, getting a look from Amelia, but did nothing else. The two seemed to be made for each other.

~The End~

_Forgot I had this, figured I would share it with the world. Enjoy it or not, I care not because I know someone will find it cute._


End file.
